The NBA Draft could move to Los Angeles next year and possibly the next three years as Madison Square Garden undergoes summer construction which won't be complete until 2014.

Tim Leiweke, President and CEO of AEG, said he is currently talking to the league about holding the NBA draft at Staples Center or the Nokia Theatre.

"We are talking to them and they are a high priority for us," said Leiweke. "They're comfortable here; they helped design our campus so it would be a perfect fit."

A league source says a timetable hasn't been set on announcing the location for next year's draft but chances are good the draft could be moving away from New York for the first time since 2001.

The 2010 NBA Draft proved to be a somewhat predictable exercise with far less activity than previously anticipated.

The first eight picks went exactly the way many predicted in the final hours leading up to the draft. The Wizards selected John Wall first, followed by Philadelphia taking Evan Turner, Derrick Favors going to the Nets, Wesley Johnson picked by the Wolves, DeMarcus Cousins going to Sacramento, Golden State selected Ekpe Udoh, Greg Monroe going to the Pistons and the Clippers taking Al-Farouq Aminu.

The Jazz provided the first subtle surprise by taking Gordon Hayward, followed by a bigger surprise in Paul George going to the Pacers.

In a deal with Oklahoma City, the Hornets selected Cole Aldrich, followed by Memphis taking Xavier Henry.

The Raptors elected to take Ed Davis, who has obvious similarities to Chris Bosh.

Houston selected Patrick Patterson at 14, followed by Larry Sanders going to the Bucks.

In a trade for Martell Webster, the Wolves sent the draft rights to Luke Babbitt to the Blazers along with Ryan Gomes. Portland began the draft by firing general manager Kevin Pritchard, though he did make the decisions on the night.

The Bulls selected Kevin Seraphin on behalf of the Wizards at 18 in a deal that will not be announced until after the moratorium. Earlier in the day, Chicago and Washington agreed upon a deal that will send Kirk Hinrich to the Wizards.

The Thunder acquired a future first round pick from the Clippers in exchange for Eric Bledsoe, followed by the Celtics taking Avery Bradley.

San Antonio drafted James Anderson at No. 20, who figures to give Gregg Popovich some much needed perimeter shooting on the wing.

Finishing up the Aldrich deal, Oklahoma City selected Craig Brackins on behalf of the Hornets.

Elliot Williams was drafted by the Blazers at No. 22.

Trevor Booker was drafted by Minnesota with the 23rd pick, though he will be shipped to Washington.

Damion James was drafted No. 24 and will end up with the NEts, while Dominique Jones will go to the Mavericks though a cash acquisition with the Grizzlies.

Quincy Pondexter will go to the Hornets with a pick that originally went to the Thunder in the Kurt Thomas trade of 2007.

Jordan Crawford went 27th and will join Jamal Crawford in Atlanta, while the Grizzlies have drafted Greivis Vasquez.

Daniel Orton, considered a possible lottery pick, fell to the Magic at 29 where he will apprentice behind Dwight Howard.

Lazar Hayward became the final pick of the first round and will go to the Wolves.

By Christopher Reina

For posterity stake, this is the list I attach myself to, as it represents hundreds of hours of breaking down each player, discussing their game with many people in basketball and also having conversations with the players themselves individually.

Even though some of these go beyond the 140 characters of a Twitter post, it is more or less what you can write when each player is drafted to have a concise synopsis of their NBA future.

I've grouped the list into a seven-tier system that gives some relativity to some of the areas where multiple players bunch up as being fairly even.

Click here to read the list.

Welcome to Draft Night 2010.

Chances are that John Wall will be on his way to the nation's capital by the end of the night, but what about his teammates DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton, Eric Bledsoe and Patrick Patterson? Will Philadelphia go with Evan Turner, or will Derrick Favors be their guy?  What about trades, will we see Al Jefferson packing his bags?  Could the unthinkable suddenly become thinkable and Chris Paul finds a new home?  Who will rise, and who will fall, and what will Knick fans do until New York picks in the second round?

These are just some of the questions that will be answered throughout the night, so make sure you join us for RealGM Draft Night 2010. Once again, we are set to keep you up to date on all the selections, the emotions, the trades, and the rumors as they happen.

Before the Wizards are officially put on the clock to start the draft be sure to read up on RealGM's latest mock draft and Top-60 Players, courtesy of Christopher Reina.

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_draftnight_2010.php

In a draft that appears to be wide open after John Wall and Evan Turner are selected first and second, respectively, the biggest debate has been the one between Derrick Favors and DeMarcus Cousins.

Both Favors and Cousins were peppered with questions about potential rivalry during Wednesday's media availability in New York City.

While Favors took the high road, Cousins almost predictably didn't.

"We've been going against one another since high school," Favors said. "DeMarcus is a good player."

Favors went on to praise Cousins for getting bigger, stronger and better since their high school days.

"I'd tell them how hard I work -- during the summer, the season and on the court," the former Georgia Tech star said when asked how he'd differentiate himself from Cousins.

Cousins was far more blunt when asked about comparisons to Favors.

"I'm the better player," Cousins told reporters.

When asked whether he felt he's better than people are giving him credit for, Cousins said, "I believe I am."

RealGM's Chris Reina has New Jersey taking Favors with the third pick, because he fits better with Brook Lopez, and Cousins going to Sacramento with the fifth selection.

Reina does have Cousins as his second ranked player overall.

Kansas center Cole Aldrich has seen his draft stock vary in the weeks leading up to this year's NBA Draft.

His critics point out that his defense is far ahead of his offense, and while that may be true, Aldrich believes that the final game of the NBA season helped showcase his value.

When asked by a reporter during Wednesday's media day what value he can bring to an NBA team, Aldrich pointed to Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

"I would tell them to watch Lakers-Celtics Game 7," Aldrich said. "If you want a guy that is like either team's bigs, that's me. You watch that game and it so defensive. I'm that type of player."

Kentucky center Daniel Orton has cancelled several workouts in the final days before Thursday's NBA Draft, which has raised some red flags.

Orton tentatively planned a visit with the Pacers on Tuesday.

A number of league executives say Orton has been out of shape and dealing with knee issues during the pre-draft workout process.

He doesn't have formal representation either.

"There are too many red flags right now," an Eastern Conference executive told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

The NBA has announced its Green Room players for the 2010 NBA Draft.

Cole Aldrich (Kansas)

Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest)

Luke Babbitt (Nevada)

DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky)

Ed Davis (North Carolina)

Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech)

Paul George (Fresno State)

Gordon Hayward (Butler)

Xavier Henry (Kansas)

Wesley Johnson (Syracuse)

Greg Monroe (Georgetown)

Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)

Evan Turner (Ohio State)

Ekpe Udoh (Baylor)

John Wall (Kentucky)

By Andrew Perna

A draft class is evaluated numerous times, but the three most important judging periods come right before the draft, the first few weeks into the player's rookie season and then again at the end of the rookie's inaugural campaign.

Overall, the judgments made prior to the NBA Draft each June might be the least accurate, but they are important for obvious reasons. Each of the league's 30 teams need to do their homework to take some of the guess work out of the process.

They may not be able to gauge a player's value perfectly (see: Brown, Kwame and Milicic, Darko), but as a whole the league does a very good job of evaluating talent. That's why it's important for rebuilding teams to have a series of high picks. Just look at what the Trail Blazers and Thunder have done over the last handful of years.

In the weeks and months leading up to this week's draft I conducted an informal poll among a number of NBA front office executives to gauge how they felt about this year's draft class.

Not surprisingly, all the executives I talked to gushed about Kentucky point guard John Wall, the consensus top pick in Thursday's draft and the cream of this year's crop.

After that, opinions were wide-spread.

Some talked about Ohio State's Evan Turner as if he were merely at the end of a sentence containing Wall, while others wouldn't even put him in the same paragraph.

The overwhelming theme was clear though, in comparison to recent years this draft class isn't nearly as strong.

"History says it won't be as good this year," said one general manager picking in the bottom half of the first round. "These things go in cycles."

Of the six executives I spoke to, not one categorized this year's draft class as above average. I asked each to describe the class as above average, par or sub par.

Over the last six weeks, three responded with "sub par."

Evaluations prior to the draft are imperative for executives, but the final verdict won't come for at least a year on this draft class.

Of this year's 28 All-Stars only six -- Rajon Rondo (21st in 2006), Gerald Wallace (25th in 2001), David Lee (30th in 2005), Steve Nash (15th in 1996), Kobe Bryant (13th in 1996), Zach Randolph (19th in 2001) -- weren't drafted in the top ten of their class.

By Christopher Reina

After a better than even expected Finals and with an extremely hyped free agency distracting us since the middle of May, the week of the 2010 NBA Draft is finally upon us.

Regardless of the depth of high quality talent, there is no night on the NBA calendar that features as much intrigue and all 30 teams scrambling to improve like the draft.

In our latest mock, the top few picks remain unchanged, but there is a lot of movement in slots 8-60.

Click here to read the full mock on RealGM.